Smells Like Teen Deception
by Friendsfan-addict06
Summary: The residents of Neptune await to see who won the Sheriff election. Veronica helps a classmate when he suspects that his dorm-roommate is stealing his research for his Science Fair Project. Also, there are some LoVe moments :)!
1. The Chase

Veronica is at a college party and spots Dick walking up to her with two drinks in his hand.

"Hey Veronica," greeted Dick.

"Dick Casablancas, and what pleasure do I have in socializing with you?" Veronica smirked.

"Well Veron, I heard you and Piz are having a falling out and I, being the sweet guy I am, thought I should cheer you up."

"Well Dick, thanks but no thanks." Veronica started walking away.

"Wait, but you haven't heard my offer yet!" Dick called after her.

Out of sheer curiosity Veronica turned around and continued their conversation. "Alright Dick. Please enlighten me with your proposal."

"Whoa proposal! Now aren't you getting ahead of yourself. I like it, but I was just wondering if you wanted to have a little fun back at my place?" Asked Dick, handing Veronica one of the beers in his hand.

Knowing Dick, Veronica figured he just had a little too much to drink and let him off easily by mocking him playfully by taking his beer and started to pretend to be drunk. "Oh my gosh Dick! You just read my mind." Veronica played, putting her hand on his shoulder all flirty like and pretended to chug the beer.

Click! Veronica saw a flash pointing in her direction and felt like someone just took a picture of her.

"Really? Wow I'm better than I thought." Dick grinned.

"Yeah and excuse me Dick. I have to go take care of something." Veronica said as she ran after the punk who took a picture of her.

"Hey!" Veronica called out after the perp who got into their car and started driving off. Veronica was unwilling to give up and got into her car and started following them. Whoever this perp was, they definitely weren't giving her an easy chase.

"Man I bet it's those damn Castle fraternity members again! Don't they ever learn?" Veronica sped up.

Having a hard time focusing on her car chase, Veronica kept on having thoughts about her breakup with Piz.

"Man I still can't believe Logan beat up those guys who took that video of me and Piz together. No wonder Parker hates me and still thinks Logan is in love with me. And Piz... poor Piz. Gets beat up by his girlfriend's ex boyfriend and then gets dumped within that same week, but it's better off this way. Cause if Piz couldn't take down Logan in the studio then how would he handle big guys going after him.. So Veronica just remember, you're protecting Piz from everybody who has a grudge against you and wants to take revenge. Isn't it better for them to come after you instead of someone close to you who has no idea who they are?" Veronica thought to herself, contemplating her reasons for breaking up with Piz in the first place.

Honk! Honk! Veronica was so caught up in her mind that she didn't see the car zooming past her in the intersection and the perp got away.


	2. The Results

It is the day after election day and the residents of Neptune await at a press conference to see who their new sheriff will be.

"So Vinnie do you have any last words to say to Keith before we hear the results of the election?" Questioned one of the reporters.

"Well, I just want to say, good luck and may the best P.I win." Vinnie said into the microphone of his podium.

"Keith any response to that?" Asked the reporter.

"Back at you Vinnie." Keith replied, giving Vinnie a quick grin.

"Okay now lets get back to the results of the election, shall we." Announced the Mayor of Neptune with an official looking envelope in his hand. "Okay and the winner is... Kei-.. sorry had an itch in my throat." The Mayor cleared his throat, "Vinnie Van Lowe everybody!" The crowd applauded and the Mayor walked off stage so Vinnie could say his acceptance speech.

"Wow this is so unexpected!" Said Vinnie, smirking at Keith.

"First of all, I would like to thank all of you who voted for me, it means a lot. I mean maybe Keith would have won if he paid more attention to real crimes as a sheriff than giving underage drinkers a hard time, am I right?" The crowd applauded Vinnie's comment. "I know I've said this before, but Keith maybe you should stop worrying about other people's kids and start worrying about your own." Vinnie took an envelope out of his suitcase and showed the crowd a picture of Veronica drunk at a college party. The crowd gasped and Keith stared down towards Veronica.

"Dammit... well at least now I know who took that picture of me last night at the party and who I should take my revenge on." Veronica thought to herself, glaring at Vinnie.

"Anyways, once again thank you everybody and I promise to keep Neptune safe and out of trouble." Vinnie exited off the stage and Veronica chased after him into the parking lot.

"Hey Vinnie!" Veronica yelled out.

"Hi Veronica. How are you?" Vinnie grinned.

"I'm doing well Vinnie." Veronica grinned right back at him. "So Vinnie, would you mind telling me how you got that picture."

"I'm sorry Veronica but that information is classified." Vinnie continued to smirk at her as he unlocked his car and got into the drivers' seat.

"Really? Cause' your car looks awfully similar to the one I was chasing last night."

"Really? Well did you know that drag races are against the law, but I think I can let you off the hook this time kiddo. Let's say it's out of the good spirit of just getting elected as Sheriff." Vinnie started his car.

Veronica slammed her hand onto his car's windowsill. "Come on Vinnie we both know that that picture was taken out of context."

"Well that's not what it looks like to everyone else. Now does it." Stated Vinnie as he started to roll up his car window and drove off.

"Ugh!" Veronica cried out in frustration as she slid her back against the light pole in the parking lot.

"Veronica!" Keith called out, walking towards her.

"Dad, I can explain."

"Alright I'm listening."

"Okay well I was at a party last night and-"

"You were at a party last night?" Snapped Keith.

"Yes Dad, cause' that is the whereabouts of most kids my age on a Friday night. Now please let me finish."

"Okay." Keith backed down.

"Look at the party Dick Casablancas came up to me all drunk as usual, and said something stupid. So I decided to mock him by pretending to be drunk and everything and Vinnie snapped a shot of me. So that picture was clearly taken out of context." Veronica Explained.

"Okay. Well see you when you get home. Cause' I need to go back to the office and finish up looking into some of my cases I haven't solved." Keith gave his daughter a hug.

"Alright see you later Dad, and I need to get back to the university to make one of my afternoon classes." Veronica gave her a dad a kiss on the cheek and drove off to Hearst.


	3. The Case

It's lunch time at Hearst and Veronica is eating lunch with her best friend, Wallace.

"Hi you're Veronica Mars right?" Said a mousy voice from behind.

Veronica turned around to see who it was. "Yes and who are you?" asked Veronica.

"Hi. My name is Nelson Tucker. I'm a science scholar here at Hearst. I think you know my friend, Clark Thomas, he's in your Criminology class."

"Yes I do. So what do you want Nelson?"

"Well as you know the Heart Annual Science Fair is coming up and I have this roommate, Jefferey Adams, and I have a feeling he's stealing my research." Nelson explained.

"Okay, and why have you come to me?"

"Well, I heard you do this kind of stuff for people. I'm willing to pay."

Veronica smiled. "Well then Nelson my boy you have come to the right place. The usual fee is one hundred dollars, but I'll give you the friends of friends fee since you know Clark, which is seventy dollars."

"Alright. Thanks Veronica. Can you meet me at lab 120 in the West Wing around five in the evening?"

"Yes sir, I can."

Nelson walked away.

"I thought the friends of friends fee was only fifty dollars." Wallace snickered.

"It is, but mama has got to make some cash if she wants to buy a new cellphone."

Wallace laughed. "Well you know that dude Jefferey that Nelson was talking about?"

"Yeah. Why what do you know about him?" Veronica wondered.

"Well I know Jefferey, he's in my soc class. He's also on the Hearst soccer team."

"And?"

"I also know that he's not the brightest guy and that he wouldn't do anything to mess up his athletic scholarship. So it just doesn't make sense why he would want to steal Nelson's research." Wallace explained.

Veronica knew Wallace was right. Cause' from that information why on Earth would Jeffery need Nelson's research papers... "Well I guess that's something I'll have to find out for myself when I go investigate.

Veronica got out of her chair and walked out of the Hearst cafeteria.


	4. The Strand

It's just about 5:00 pm and Veronica is in front of Lab 120 waiting for Nelson.

"Hey Veronica, wow you're right on time." Nelson said as he walked up and slid his key card to open up the lab door.

"Hmm. So if his door can only be open by his key card, then how would Jefferey be able to break in and steal Nelson's research." Veronica thought to herself.

"Hey Nelson."

"Yeah?"

"So your lab door can only be open by your key card and nothing else right?"

"Correct."

"And once it closes it shuts and automatically locks?"

"Yeah." Nelson confirmed.

"Well do you have any sort of security devices around here that can prove that Jefferey is guilty of stealing your research?" Wondered Veronica.

"Yes actually I do! I never thought to look there." Nelson walked up to his laptop on the lab counter top. "I actually have a record of every time my lab has been accessed."

"Great. Could you oh I don't know, print out a copy for me?" Veronica asked.

"Oh yeah, sure." Nelson said, clicking print on his computer screen. "Here I'll be right back, I need to go retrieve the papers I printed out for you. Feel free to look around if you want."

"Okie dokie." Veronica grinned as Nelson walked out of the lab. "Man is this guy clueless or what?" Veronica mumbled to herself. She looked around some more to see if there was anything that caught her eye. "Wait was it that?" Veronica picked up a brown strand of thread off of the Lab counter top and started to examine it.

"Alright here's a record of all the times my lab was accessed." Nelson said handing her a thin stack of papers.

"Thanks hey Nelson do you happen to own a brown knit sweater?"

"No but my roommate does. He wears it all the time. I think his girlfriend knitted it for him or something. Either that or he's a bigger mama's boy than I am." Nelson giggled.

Veronica put the brown strand of thread into a plastic baggie and handed it to Nelson. "Well check this out. I don't think it's enough to kick Jefferey out of Hearst, but it's a lead."

"Whoa, are you kidding me? This is all I need to get Jefferey out of here."

"No Nelson, trust me it's not."

"But Veronica it is. Now you have to trust me, because I have it 'in' with the new Dean."

"So?" Veronica Wondered.

"So... I also know that the new Dean has had it out with Jefferey, since Jefferey took the Dean's son's starter position on the soccer team. Which means that he'd do anything to get Jefferey out of here and off the soccer team." Nelson explained.

"I don't usually say this, but I think we should just settle down and look into the case more." Veronica pleaded.

"Well, I'm sorry Veronica, but I can't do that and I guess that means that I will not be needing your services anymore." Nelson walked away and went off to the Dean's office.


	5. The Breakdown

We find Veronica walking down the school hall and she bumps shoulders with a Hearst student carrying a box.

"Hey watch where you're going Freshman!" Said the random student that Veronica bumped into.

"My bad." Veronica replied. "Hey wait a minute that sweater looks really familiar." Veronica thought to herself.

"Jefferey Adams?" Veronica called out after the student.

The student turned around. "Yeah?"

Veronica ran up to him. "Hi, I'm Veronica Mars, I think you know my friend Wallace Fennel."

"Yeah I know Wallace. So what do you want with me?" Jefferey asked.

"Well I was just admiring that brown knit sweater you got on."

"Well thanks, but you gotta stop checkin' me out cause it just so happens that my current girlfriend knitted this for me." Jeffery smirked giving Veronica a quick wink.

"Cute Jeffery, but it doesn't seem like your girlfriend is that great of a knitter considering that nice hole you have there." Veronica gave him a little smirk back.

"You know what I did hear around Hearst that you're quite the smart ass Veronica. Now what do you want? Am I like a suspect to one of your cute little cases or something?"

"Well actually Jeff my boy, you are." Veronica wittily replied as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Now tell me where did you get that hole in your sweater?"

"Oh, you're the one that helped that nerd Nelson kick me outta here!" Jefferey yelled and aggressively pointed his finger at Veronica's face.

Veronica started to back up against a wall. and put her hand in her purse and felt around for her taser.

Jeffery pinned her against the wall. "Because of you, Nelson got my athletic scholarship terminated and now I can't even afford to stay in my own dorm room!." Jefferey screamed.

"Well that explains the box." Veronica muttered.

"What?" Jefferey yelled as he threw veronica to the floor, making her drop her taser out of her purse. Luckily, Making it out of reach and out of Jeffery's sight. Luckily, Veronica noticed that Jefferey was probably to boned up on steroids to notice her taser.

"Because of you I got kicked off the soccer team and got suspended!"

Veronica tried to pull her strength together to get herself up, off the floor, but kept on stumbling.

"Because of you I won't be a starter on the team anymore!" Jefferey kicked her back down.

Tears started to fall out of Veronica's eyes and she started quivering and cried out in pain, grabbing her rib, where she got kicked.

Jefferey then dropped down on one knee next to her head and cupped his hand around her chin and leaned in close towards her ear. "Because of you I'll never get my shot in the professional leagues, because the agent coming down to see me will never have a chance to see me play." Jefferey whispered into her hear as he wiped her tears away and gazed into her eyes. "It's such a shame to see such a gorgeous face cry, but I guess you should of kept your pretty little nose out of everyone else's business." Jefferey smiled as he started to get up, but then Veronica quickly pulled her taser out and shocked him. Making Jefferey flop onto the floor. Jeffery started to shake and quiver on the floor and grunted out in pain. "But if you really have to know Veronica.. I didn't do it." Jefferey muttered out.

Veronica started to lift herself up off the floor and had enough strength to sit up. "And why should I believe you?" Veronica muffled, regaining her breath.

"Because, I ripped my sweater playing football, and it got caught in one of my buddies class rings."

"Then how did that strand get into your roommates lab?" Veronica continued to clench her side as it began to throb.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? Strands are always falling out. Plus the last time I was in his lab was to retrieve his damn notebook." Jefferey fainted and Veronica felt like she was just about to join him in the unconscious world.

"Veronica what happened?" Said a familiar voice as they picked Veronica's head off the floor. Veronica was too out of it to make out who was helping her.

"Just please grab my stuff and get me out of here." Veronica pleaded to the stranger as she began to faint.

"Don't worry Veronica. I'm going to get you out of here." Assured the stranger as they picked Veronica and her purse up off the floor and stepped on Jefferey on their way out of the hall. Veronica laid her head on her rescuer's shoulder and blacked out.


	6. The Familiar Stranger

Veronica woke up and looked around.

"Where am I?" Veronica wondered not remembering that someone came to her rescue in the hall the other night. Veronica started to get up, but suddenly a shock of pain shot through her chest, now remembering her rib was cracked. Veronica started to examine the gauze wrapped around her abdomen and stroked her hand across it. Veronica began to unwrap it and looked at her blackish blue bruised rib.

"I was going to change your gauze, but I figured it'd be less awkward if I waited until you woke up," said Logan as he handed Veronica a cup of hot coffee.

Veronica was happy to see Logan. She was glad that he was the one that came to her rescue out in the hall, and couldn't have wished for anybody else. "Hey Logan." Veronica smiled as she grabbed the cup of coffee out of his hand.

"So uh, how bad is the bruise?" Logan wondered.

Veronica lifted up her shirt up a bit to show Logan the bruise.

Logan took a wet rag out of the bucket that was sitting on top of the coffee table and started to tend to Veronica's wound, placing light pressure onto her bruise.

"Ow!" Veronica cried out. Logan quickly pulled the rag off.

"Sorry Veronica, I-"

Before Logan could finish Veronica interrupted him. "No it's okay."

Logan timidly put the rag back onto Veronica's wound.

"No it's fine really, you can put more pressure on it." Veronica put her hand over Logan's and gazed into his eyes.

Logan blushed. He knew he was still in love with Veronica, but he also knew that his feelings for her weren't important at the moment. So instead he just smiled at her.

"So what happened back there?" Logan asked.

Veronica explained to Logan everything that happened and all the events that led up to her and her bruised rib.

"I'm not letting Jefferey get away with this." Logan glared out into space in disgust.

Veronica grabbed his arm and calmed him down. "Logan it's okay, just please let this one go."

"Why should I Veronica? He hurt you and cracked your rib. I'm not going to let him go." Logan got up and was about to leave the room.

"Logan wait!"

"What Veronica? Come on I have to do something about this!" Logan cried out.

"Why?" Veronica yelled back as she quickly got up, clenching her rib.

Logan started to tear up. He knew he couldn't tell Veronica that he can't stand to see anyone hurt her. He knew the pain of someone constantly beating on him, because that's how his father treated him, but he still didn't want to see Veronica go through that. Although, he also knew it was part of her job as a P.I to take those hits and deal with those kind of hostile people, but if he told her how much it pained him, then she would know how much he really cared for her. So instead, he dazedly looked at her and walked in close.

Veronica wasn't sure what Logan was doing, but wasn't ready to question it yet. So, she wrapped her arms around the back of Logan's neck as he leaned in and kissed her. Veronica began to pull away, because her rib started to hurt.

"Sorry." Logan said, thinking Veronica pulled away because she didn't feel the same way for him.

"No. It's alright."

"No it's not, I should of known that my feelings aren't important at the moment and that you need to focus on your cas-" before Logan could say anymore Veronica quickly pulled him back in and kissed him back.

"Now if you excuse me, but you're right. I do have a case to finish." Veronica said as she gathered her things and walked off.


End file.
